Joyriding With Owl: Fla. Man Busted for Ridin' with Protected Species

Yeah, we've all been there: 3:00 a.m., drunk, high, and looking to vibe out with an owl on the ride home. Well, two Florida men have lived that dream, and now one of them is being charged with a federal offense.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that Stervenson Benjamin violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by capturing, possessing, and transporting a great horned owl. As you can see in the video below, the horned owl is in fact great, and very, very chill.

"3am in the Morning We Are Drunk and We Are High"

That's the Facebook caption that accompanied this video, and there's no reason to doubt its veracity:

A bottle of liquor visible in the car, and also the DRIVER IS HOLDING A LIVE OWL IN HIS LAP. Johnny Duverson, who shot and posted the video, can also be heard saying, "We chillin' with a owl [sic] right now, we vibin'.'" This is also true.

According to the Facebook caption, the two men "just found it on the road." And while the owl looks surprised to find itself chillin' in a car, owls tend to look surprised. It should also be noted this owl is not using its razor sharp talons to extricate itself from the driver's lap, so perhaps he too is vibin'.

"We Bout to Take this Thing Home and Eat It Up"

This was also asserted on the Facebook post, and we very much hope this did not happen. David Hitzig of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary told WPTV, "the concern is what happened to the owl, where the owl is now, and did anyone cause harm to the owl."

We share this concern, and truly hope the two men did not take this great horned, chillin', vibin' owl home and eat it up. We should not kick owls, nor should we eat them up.